SEVENTH DIMENSION DESIGN, INC.

When the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck in 1995, telephones and other modern communications were cut off. Obtaining information on conditions in the stricken region became next to impossible.

The three founders of SDD spent days walking around the disaster zone, using the computer networks of the day to broadcast their findings nationwide. The website they built attracted some 35,000 hits a day, an unexpected result. Deeply impressed by the speed and power that the new networks held, the three men established a company, Seventh Dimension Design, Inc., registering it on November 24, 1995. On the same day, the founders delivered a presentation to municipal civil servants and representatives, under the title "How Local Governments Can Use Information Network Systems in Public Emergencies." At the time, it was highly unusual in Japan for a private company to present public-policy proposals to municipal governments uninvited, but the founders' proposal had a profound impact. Two years later, the plan was adopted as a policy for the construction of an "educational information network." Recognizing the urgent need to expand communication infrastructure, SDD became the first ISP in the 0727 telephone code area in Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture.